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Walter Wingate
Walter Wingate (15 April 1865 - 1918) was a Scottish poet and teacher. Life Youth and education Wingate was born at Dalry, on the River Garnock in Ayrshire. His father was David Wingate, whose poetry and songs had gained him the a local reputation as "The Collier Poet". Walter was the 4th of 11 children born to David Wingate and his 1st wife. After she died, David remarried, this time to Margaret Thompson, a granddaughter of Robert Burns.Walter Wingate, Undiscovered Scotland. Web, Mar. 19, 2018. While Walter was still an infant, the family moved to Lanarkshire, where he would live for the rest of his life. He attended Hutcheson's Grammar School in Hamilton and, at the age of 16, went to Glasgow University from which he graduated with honors in mathematics before the age of 20.Walter Wingate (1865-1918), Scottish Poetry Library. Web, Mar. 19, 2018. Career He tried for a position in the Indian Civil Service, but while being academically highly qualified, his eyesight caused him to fail the medical exam. He then turned to teaching, obtaining an appointment in St. John's Grammar School in Hamilton as mathematics master, a position he continued to occupy until his untimely death at the age of 52. In 1907, Walter married Agnes Thom; the couple had 2 sons. Wingate frequently contributed poems to The Glasgow News and The Glasgow Evening Herald, to magazines, and to the anthologies of the Glasgow Ballad Club. He was also a skilled watercolour artist, and left many paintings when he died. His wife died in 1916, and it is possible that this prompted Walter's own premature death 2 years later. Their sons were raised by relatives, including Walter Buchanan, also a member of The Glasgow Ballad Club, who wrote the preface to Wingate's posthumous collection. Writing Wingate's only collection, Poems by Walter Wingate, was posthumously published in 1919, by Gowans and Gray. In the editor's note, Adam Gowans speculates that many of the poems "will become familiar and dear to his countrymen." Indeed, the book It established Wingate as a firm favorite with generations of Scottish children, and his work has often been frequently antologized. Some of his Scots poems are still a popular recitation pieces, especially "The Sair Finger" but also "The Dominie’s Happy Lot" and Conscience." A reviewer in The Scotsman was of the opinion that "the Scots verses are racier and more humorous in expression," but praised the tender meditations on nature in both languages. Wingate’s talent for capturing wayside flowers and their habitat in watercolours was equalled by his ability to paint in words the countryside he so loved to wander. Recognition Years after Wingate's death a memorial fund was inaugurated by the Hamilton Civic Society, and a framed picture of the poet was given to St. John's Grammar School, Hamilton, in 1932. Publications *''Poems''. London: Gowans & Gray, 1919, 1933.Search results = au:Walter Wingate, WorldCat, OCOC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 19, 2018. See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *Walter Wingate at AllPoetry (5 poems) *Index of poems by Walter Wingate at Rampant Scotland (60 poems) ;About *Walter Wingate at Undiscovered Scotland